Ya that was a nice deal for Russia. Make sure all former Soviet States remained weak and powerless. As Russia remained basically in control of them through economic, military threat, or with resources such as natural gas.
And if they even hint that they want to go a different direction Russia takes it as a direct threat.
So basically those states are to forever remain slaves to Russia.

I see that point. I'm not convinced however that Russia wasn't behind the support in Georgia, and in Ukraine.
You realize more than 50% of Russians believe America never landed on the moon.
They believe the CIA led coup is what ousted Ukrainian President. Not the fact he lied to get elected.
That says a lot, the president was elected because he wanted to join EU. Not NATO. He promised to become western economic partners. And he won on that message.
But when it became time to fulfill that promise he reneged.
That is why Ukraine fell apart, because Russia managed to get a puppet elected in Ukraine.
When that fell apart Russia invaded and took by force what they wanted.
And as far as Georgia wanting to be supported by NATO. I believe that was also something Russia created.
Look at it now, Russia took them by force. So it would seem Georgia wanting to join NATO was a very justified need for survival.
Or was it that Russia pushed Georgia that direction as a means to to get what they wanted.
Russia isn't trying to coexist. In 2008 they wanted and attempted to collapse American currency. Russia tried but only failed because China would not help. China told us this.
The propaganda machine in Russia is the strongest in the world. So I don't buy Crimea was legitimate for many reasons. But the main reason is they were fed bullshit. All their fears were created by Russia. Both threw propaganda and through activism.
You have to realize Russia is on war footing. We are not witnessing disagreements in policies. We are witnessing the first stages of WW3.
Russia is looking to collapse our economy, and make the dollar crash.
And I'm not certain we will stop them. People want to complain about America being all over the world. Not understanding the void we leave as we back off, and stop protecting our assets.
Not understanding that the power America has had for decades is important for the west survival. It's not like the chair America holds is going to go to the world collectively. But to Russia, or China, or Iran.

Hmm I dont really think Russia is on a "war footing" to be honest. I think theyre just doing what they always have done, a bit of sabre rattling, letting us know they are there, and wanting to be still thought of as a "superpower". Theyve had their noses put out of joint by a resurgent China. Now who would have predicted THAT??

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Reuters Finds Out More About Nemtsov's Report on Russian Military in Ukraine - and Why His Report Mattered
18:09 (GMT)

While the Russian state media has spun a wild variety of theories about who might have killed opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on the night of February 27, and mainly muddied the waters, Reuters' journalists in Moscow have come up with further information about Nemtsov's last notes and a report he was preparing to publish in order to prove the Russian military involvement in the war in Ukraine:

It may have been the last note Boris Nemtsov ever wrote, a hurried scrawl in blue pen on a plain white sheet of A4 paper.

A day before he was shot dead near the Kremlin last week, the Russian opposition figure and his close aide Olga Shorina were discussing a sensitive investigation he was preparing into Moscow's backing for separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine.

Fearing their office was bugged by state intelligence, Nemtsov resorted to scribbling.

"Some paratroopers from Ivanovo have got in touch with me. 17 killed, they didn't give them their money, but for now they are frightened to talk," said the note, shown to Reuters by Shorina.

"He did not want to say anything, just in case. He did not want to utter it out loud, which is why he wrote it down for me," she said.

Read more here.

The article sheds light on an issue that has been debated as to how much Nemtsov was really under surveillance by intelligence and how important a figure he was. Clearly, he himself believed he was under constant electronic surveillance, and sources such as former US ambassador to Moscow have pointed out that they have seen cars tailing Nemtsov and his colleagues.

A comment made frequently about the report on the military is that it couldn't have been a motive for killing Nemtsov, as a number of journalists and NGOs have already publicized lists of Russian contract fighters who were killed in Ukraine and the stories of some who have been severely injured, as we have reported.

But what this leaves out is the importance of the political promotion of such information, and the kind of charismatic and connected figure who can do this.

Facts alone seldom move governments and international bodies to act; persuasive presentation and advocacy does. Nemtsov, a trained physicist and mathematician who served as first deputy prime minister had already shown that he was capable of getting the world to pay attention to the gross excesses of the Sochi Olympics -- three times the cost of any world Olympic Games -- by literally doing the math about shady government loans and kickbacks.

While his work in Russian was less visible to the West, Nemtsov worked with his fellow opposition party member Leonid Martenyuk to create a viral Russian-language video on Putin's responsibility for the downing of MH17 by Russian-backed militants which has more than a million views on YouTube.

Earlier, Nemtsov was successful in lobbying for the Magnitsky Act of sanctions against those responsible for the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and other massive human rights violators. And he showed while in office in the Yaroslavl legislature that he was able to get a corrupt official fired through persistent faction work.

We note that a tweet about the Reuters' report by pro-Kremlin researcher Yury Barmin frames implies that returning paratroopers from Ukraine might have been motivated to kill Nemtsov.

But the Reuters story contains nothing of that implication. While ultranationalists and fighters from the Donbass are indicated as people possibly motivated to kill Nemtsov, Reuters actually said that it was the relatives of the soldiers, not the soldiers themselves; likely the families were concerned that they hadn't heard from their loved ones.

Shorina and Ilya Yashin, another close associate of Nemtsov's from the RPR-PARNAS party said they would try to assemble Nemtsov's notes and publish the report he was never able to finish.

-- Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

Published in Press-Stream Russia Update: March 5, 2015 in Publication Russia Update

Russian talk show host and opposition member Ksenya Sobchak was threatened by an unidentified man on March 2 at the funeral of slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov who said, "You're next."

Aleksandr Venediktov, editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy said he has given testimony to investigators, but says he can't recall details.

Translation: An investigator of the Interior Ministry questioned me on the issue of Ksenya Sobchak and the phrase "Ksenya, you're next." I answered all the questions. I could not make a sketch.

In a live interview on TV Rain, Venediktov told a reporter that at the doorway of the Sakharov Center, where a funeral service for Nemtsov was held a man approached her and said "You're next." She told him to go away. He then came up a few minutes later and repeated the same threat -- and she told him to get lost again. Then he approached a third time, and Venediktov, who was standing next to Sobchak came up to him and said "Please leave." Since there were a lot of police near the area, he finally left (translation by The Interpreter):

"That was all I saw, and the investigator spoke to me for 40 minutes, and asked if I would help the investigation to make a composite sketch, I said of course I'm prepared to help the investigation, but I would hardly be able to, because I saw several thousand people that day, and spoke with hundreds of people who were strangers. So hardly. But it does mean that the inspection will continue, if they are making sketches, that means they're looking for a person."

In the past, an extremist Russian Orthodox activist name Enteo and his followers has come to the Sakharov Center to heckle people at public seminars, such as on gay rights. At one point last year LGBT activists were forced to remain in the Sakharov Center and call the police for an escort because of threats made to them by this group.

Asked if such a threat was worth taking seriously, Venediktov said it was, especially in light of threats on social media and the murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was killed only a few hours after giving his last interview, on Ekho Moskvy:

"Any threat should be taken seriously because when people who are mentally unstable, they can constitute a threat as well. We see that Boris did not treat this seriously. To walk out in the evening without a body guard, a man who was hated by certain segments of society who are armed -- that of course as to be taken seriously. In fact, he [Nemtsov] was told that. And he would say 'Oh, but what can I do? You can't run away from everybody. Literally on the day of his death, literally Ksenya Larina [a journalist at Ekho Moskvy] told him that, and he replied, "Well, what can I do."

Venediktov said that as far as he knew, Sobchak had not initially herself made a police report about the incident at the funeral, but that police followed up because they saw there were threats against her in social media. (Later she was summoned to give testimony herself.)

A police investigator came to question him in his office, and he also received a summons to appear for interrogation.

"That is part of their professional work, and now it is the professional duty of the MVD to catch the murderer of Boris Nemtsov," Venediktov added.

Asked why no progress seemed to be made on Nemtsov's murder investigation, and little information was being released, Venediktov said that experts had told him that if a suspect is not immediately captured hot on the heels, then it can take a long time.

Among the ominous statements to Sobchak that came after Nemtsov's murder were cynical tweets by Anton Korobkov-Zemlyansky korobkov), a pro-Kremlin propagandist and provocateur on social media.

In an interview with Korobkov last year, Global Voices said that such figures should be heeded, especially because they are supposedly an influential voice in Russia and also bring a critique to the United States. Yet increasingly, especially since Nemtsov's murder, their hate-fest against against the opposition is being taken as something more serious than beneficial social commentary. Korobkov was banned from Twitter by management earlier this year after making a violent threat to a Ukrainian activist.

Korobkov was able to reach a Russian staff person in Twitter to plead his case; he also staged a demonstration in front of the US Embassy in Moscow, and there may have been a consideration of the fact that one of Russia's wealthiest oligarchs, Alisher Usmanov, has invested in Twitter. Korobokov was reinstated.

Blogger Nina Jobe noticed his comment to Sobchak's report of the threat at Nemtsov's funeral:

Translation: FSB agents could drop polonium in her tea. Or nicotine. One drop would be sufficient.

Among those who noticed was the spokesman of the US Embassy:

We also found a number of other menacing tweets from Korobkov, given the fact that Nemtsov was killed on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge.
Translation: Sobchak has called. She has invited me for a stroll on the bridge tonight.

Translation: Ksyush, don't wait for me on the bridge, I'm stuck in traffic.

Sobchak retorted to a follower who brought the tweet to her attention:

Sobchak-tweet.jpg

Translation: Listen, if you read the blog of the Internet tapeworm korobkov voluntarily, why complain? That's how it should be.

Sobchak has been harassed by more than just tweets, however. Her face is often on the billboards or propaganda videos put out by the government to vilify the "fifth columnists."

In December 2014, she confronted Putin at his year-end press conference over his tolerance of the order by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to burn down the homes of families of terrorists. Putin responded that Kadyrov should get sympathy because his own cousin was killed in a gunfight between police and terrorists who took over the press building in Grozny. Her question led to a lawsuit by the government of Chechnya against Sobchak, although their was ample evidence that Kadyrov's police had torched the houses.
YouTube
Скандальный вопрос Ксении Собчак Путину. Зачем ты ей дал слово?

Show Details... >
Mar 05, 2015 22:01 (GMT)

Sobchak also challenged Putin regarding his tolerance of the incitement of hatred against Ukrainians on Russia state media, noting the notorious TV1 broadcast of the "toddler crucifixion" hoax. Later, TV1 walked back the hoax, but defended their biased coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Soon, Sobchak had people picketing in front of her home, carrying signs with the cities and dates of terrorist attacks and a poster using her nickname, "Ksyusha, do you want it to continue?"

Translation: The Kremlinbots harass Ksenya Sobchak.

Sobchak is the daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, mayor of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, for whom Putin once worked as an aide in the city council. Sobchak died suddenly of a heart attack in 2000 after a meeting with Putin, while campaigning for Putin's presidential election. This relationship is thought to give Ksenya Sobchak some protection, but it's not certain how far it extends. Sobchak's death, which was not investigated until months after he died, coupled with the fact that other people in the city council also suffered heart attacks at the time, has led some to suspect foul play.

Russian authorities have detained two men in connection with the murder of the opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.

The pair were named as Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadayev, both from the North Caucasus, a volatile region of southern Russia plagued by insurgency.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia’s federal security service, said the investigation was ongoing and Vladimir Putin had been informed of the detentions, the government television network Rossiya-24 reported.

Nemtsov, 55, was shot four times in the back by a gunman in a passing car while walking close to the Kremlin on the evening of 27 February.

It is not clear whether either of the detained men is suspected of firing the shots that killed Nemtsov. The prime witness to the killing returned to Kiev this week. She told the media she was unable to identify who shot Nemtsov.

Ilya Yashin, an opposition activist, welcomed the detentions but called for more information to be released about the two men. “The execution of the investigation had not inspired any optimism, but the fact that there have been arrests inspires some optimism,” she said.

Nemtsov’s killing came two days before he was due to lead an opposition rally in Moscow. A memorial held instead was attended by tens of thousands of people.

Many believe the killing, which occurred in an area of high security near the Kremlin, would not have been possible without official involvement, and may have been an attempt to intimidate other government opponents.

Nemtsov was deputy prime minister in the 1990s in the government of Boris Yeltsin. He had written a number of reports in recent years linking Putin and his inner circle to alleged corruption, and was one of the best-known politicians among Russia’s small and beleaguered opposition.

In 2013, he said as much as $30bn of the estimated $50bn funding for the Winter Olympics in Sochi had gone missing – a claim the Kremlin denied.

Nemtsov’s killing was condemned by world leaders, with the office of the French president, François Hollande, describing it as an assassination. David Cameron said the callous murder must be “fully, rapidly and transparently investigated”.

On Friday Nemtsov’s daughter Zhanna told CNN that her father died a hero and that the Russian authorities held political responsibility for the killing. She said she had no confidence that those responsible for her father’s death would be brought to justice. “Russia has crossed the line after this murder and people will be frightened to express ideas contrary to the official standpoint,” she added.

Putin has called the killing a “provocation”, vowing that everything would be done to convict those who committed a “vile and cynical murder”.

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